


witchcraft in your lips

by phantomlistener



Category: The Worst Witch (TV 2017)
Genre: Episode Tag, F/F, Married Witches in Love, Post-Series
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-01
Updated: 2017-10-01
Packaged: 2019-01-07 10:39:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,509
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12231180
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/phantomlistener/pseuds/phantomlistener
Summary: Agatha has been defeated, the school is safe, and Ada is its rightful head once more - but all is not well with Hecate Hardbroom.





	witchcraft in your lips

**Author's Note:**

  * For [parcequelle](https://archiveofourown.org/users/parcequelle/gifts).



> Prompt: "I don't have the words right now so here's a kiss - Ada/Hecate".

Hecate has been her permanent shadow ever since they were released from the enchanted painting. She hovers, possessed of a hawklike balance between determination and awkwardness, just out of reach behind her shoulder, follows her dutifully through the castle to perform an inventory of things moved or wilfully neglected, insists on accompanying her to reset the deepest wards that vibrate slightly off-key through Ada's very bones.

The girls are full of excitement, a chaotic mix of nervous energy and relief, and Ada gives them the rest of the day off without hesitation, ignoring the scowl she knows Hecate is pulling just out of sight. They deserve it, she thinks, and murmurs as much to her deputy.

"They need normality to be restored, Headmistress, not to be permitted to... _mess around_ like children." Hecate's voice snaps behind her like an autumn twig underfoot.

"They _are_ children," Ada reminds her. "And don't forget that Mildred's quick thinking saved both the school _and_ our lives today."

"Still." She takes a single step closer. "This lack of discipline is precisely what your sister was trying to foster in the girls, and you do them no favours in imitating her behaviour."

"In imitating- _really_ , Hecate." She turns to face her, perfectly ready to rehash the age-old argument of discipline versus kindness right there in the middle of the Great Hall, and sees her deputy headmistress looking for all the world as if she's struggling not to cry.

"Hecate, dear, what on earth is the matter?"

Hecate stares at her, eyebrows raised in disbelief. "The matter? The _matter_? Ada, you nearly-" She closes her eyes and takes a deep breath, lets it out again so slowly that Ada worries she might actually faint from lack of oxygen. Her face is, if possible, even paler than usual, the bright line of her lipstick in stark contrast to the whiteness of her cheeks.

She opens her eyes.

"It's nothing," she says. "Now, I would suggest that we go to your office, Headmistress, and file the necessary paperwork to get this school up and running correctly again." The hand she holds out barely shakes and Ada takes it, readies herself for the rush of energy that always envelops her when she travels on one of Hecate's spells.

They're just about to disappear when Ada adds a nudge and a burst of power to the translocation spell, and when the world reconstitutes itself around them they are standing firmly in the middle of her private rooms.

The look of shock and disapproval on Hecate's face would be amusing were it not for the fact that her eyes are still shining with unshed tears. "We have work to do, Headmistress," she says with a stony face. "Important work. There are parents to contact, statements to be written, not to mention an _entire curriculum_ to be redistributed!"

"And I can do none of that when my trusted deputy is so clearly not quite herself." Ada smiles placidly and reaches to stroke Hecate's cheek, shakes her head at the vulnerable need that flickers lightning-fast through her eyes as she does so. She draws her into an embrace, and is relieved to feel Hecate's arms around her in turn. "We're all safe, my dear," she says, "so what can be troubling you?"

Ada knows all of Hecate's silences, could categorise each and every variation into its own class and order, and this one is no different. Her head is bent to rest on Ada's shoulder, breathing slightly ragged as she reaches for a composure that fails to come: "I have spent the last few weeks half-convinced that I would never see you again." Her voice is half-muffled by Ada's cardigan, her arms tight around her waist. "I...I could hardly bear it."

When she pulls back to look at her, Hecate's eyes are filled with tears, and Ada has no words, does the only thing she can: reaches up and kisses her, briefly, nothing more than the soft press of lips against trembling lips.

Hecate makes a single noise of protest. Then she slides her hand into Ada's hair and her tongue into Ada's mouth, and kisses her back with earnest fervour.

Being on the receiving end of Hecate's intensity is electric, a thrill that vibrates deeper through her body than the castle's wards, now blissfully in tune. Her hands settle at Hecate's waist. She is taut with anxiety beneath her touch, wound tight by weeks of frustration and fear and a deep-seated tension that Ada suspects one kiss, however spectacular, will not remedy - but she can try. Even distracted as she is by Hecate's mouth, she manages to send a pulse of magic through her hands that she knows will coil itself into Hecate's body, soothe its way out along her limbs, rub invisible circles into her temples, and curl warm tendrils across her aching shoulders.

Hecate breaks from the kiss with a slightly dazed look in her eyes. "What-"

"A little magic," Ada says wryly, half-breathless herself, "to match the witchcraft in your lips."

"I-" She takes a step back, guilt written across her face plain as moonlight, and stammers out an apology: "I'm sorry, Headmistress. Ada. I didn't mean to-"

"It seems to have escaped your notice, my dear, that I was the one responsible for starting that rather _wonderful_ diversion."

"But-"

"But _nothing_ ," Ada interjects. "Term-time or not, considering the events of the past few weeks I don't think it unreasonable to take a moment for ourselves." She lets her voice soften and a gentle smile curve its way onto her lips. "I needed that moment," she says with total honesty, knows that Hecate will take her expression of need as acceptable justification for the brief lapse in judgement.

"If you say so," Hecate says, and the hint of mirth in her voice indicates that she has both seen straight through and accepted Ada's ploy. But as quickly as it arrived, the levity is gone. She shifts awkwardly on the spot, hands clenched tightly at her sides.

The silence stretches out, thin as early morning sunlight and just as fragile.

"I would like to- that is, I would- I would like to formally apologise, Ada." She casts her gaze to the floor, as if too ashamed to look her in the eye. "I should have done more," she continues. "I should have done _better_."

"Oh, my dearest Hecate." Ada sighs. Apologies from Hecate usually come in the dark, oddly specific confessions whispered into the safety of a post-coital embrace; she suspects that Hecate holds a list of her own perceived transgressions in her head to admit as if for inspection by her lover. Two in such swift succession, bold and plain as day, are a definite sign that something is still amiss. "None of us could have predicted Agatha's plan. And once she tricked the wards and regained her powers, there really was nothing to be done."

"I could have-"

"I watched you," Ada interrupts. "From the painting, when I was able. You did far more than your duty in frustrating some of Agatha's more... _unpalatable_ schemes." She hesitates, considering whether her next statement will be taken seriously. "You were wonderful," she finishes.

Hecate chokes a laugh at that, and somehow her disbelief is an audible thing.

"I'm proud of you," Ada goes on, and watches the expression on Hecate's demonstrative face shift from anguish to a pleased sort of embarrassment. "You were forced to make some terribly difficult choices, my dear, and I don't envy you a single one of them."

Hecate dips her head in passive acknowledgement, and although Ada knows she's battling her reflexive desire to argue, the submission means she has - for now - calmed her deputy's wilder anxieties. She smiles, and places a gentle hand on Hecate's arm. "We have a great deal to do today," she says, "but tonight I would like to sleep next to you."

Hecate frowns, a plethora of near-visible objections on the tip of her tongue.

"You can charm your door to alert you if any of the first years require your help," Ada points out reasonably. Hecate's presence at her side every second since their release is a sure sign that if left alone she will do nothing but brood, sleepless, until dawn breaks and she can reasonably prepare for the day. "Think about it," she says when Hecate doesn't reply. "And I will of course understand if you choose not to."

There's a beat as Hecate stares at her. "I'll consider it," she says primly, eventually. Something sparks in her eyes. "If not, then perhaps at the weekend. I have...I have missed you, Ada, these past weeks."

"I've missed you too, my dear." She extends a hand to Hecate with a smile. "Shall we? After all, we do have a school to get back on its feet."

For the first time since they were freed from the painting, Hecate's smile reaches her eyes. "Indeed we have, Headmistress," she says, and taking Ada's hand, she transfers them away.

 


End file.
